First full week is behind us! Students were still smiling as they headed to the busses this afternoon...I could interpret that in a couple of ways, but I will choose to think they were happy even before the bell rang and not only in response to the bell ringing :?)
For those of you following us on Twitter @SBSPanthers or have liked our FaceBook page (StonyBrookSchool), you would have seen the posting that thanked Arun Saigal for talking to a group of students about his journey to become the Lead Android Developer at Quizlet which is an educational start-up based in San Francisco that many of our students use on their mobile devices to more effectively study and or to simply enjoy the process more. He shared with students the tremendous benefits of becoming a software engineer and the scope of influence it can have on society. He ended his talk by showing the students how they could build a simple app in just two minutes using a free software program he helped develop while at MIT. He also shared with them a way to access one of the newest Quizlet games which has not yet been released to the public. Needless to say, the students were pretty excited about his visit.
This week I had the opportunity to watch my self-esteem initially plummet only to slowly rise back in time to end the week feeling more confident again. I was visited by a number of students conducting research this week. The biggest shot to my ego, came from a group of eighth graders asking to see how much of a Rubik's cube I could solve in 60 secs. In fact, they only asked me to try and solve one side so I felt pretty good about my chances having grown-up in the 80s and had my fair share of both tricks and legitimate strategies to solving some of these 3D kinesthetic puzzles. As I took the cube to begin my initial assessment, panic set in as they updated me on the amount of time I had left. I simply couldn't for the life of me remember how the heck I used to do solve it. I quickly started moving the sides and shifting the pieces left and right and up and down only to keep making the same formations on different sides. I was talking out loud saying that I know when I see certain patterns it is possible to make specific moves that bring them all together to one side. Then, it was done, they said time and my heart sank. I couldn't even solve the one-side never mind the whole thing. But worse than that, I mad the mistake of asking one of the students how long it took him to do it. So, he apparently had enough time to try for himself...16 seconds that was all he needed. Needless to say, I was impressed. Deflated, but impressed.
But the optimist in me couldn't end the week there, more research was taking place and I was able to end the week performing well on a Skittles taste test in which I was asked to identify by taste only five different types of Skittles. While my dexterity may have failed me a bit, my taste buds have yet to disappoint. That success will carry me confidently into the weekend!
Beyond my humiliation, other things are actually happening that I can also share with you.
Ms. Smith, our school librarian, asked me to include the following:
Author, Elizabeth Atkinson, is coming to speak to our 6th graders on October 14. Elizabeth Atkinson is the author of The Sugar Mountain Snow Ball, coming in October from Islandport Press. She is also the author of the award-winning middle-grade novel, I, Emma Freke, which Booklist called a “rich story of self-acceptance” and Kirkus Reviews described as “a poignant journey of self-discovery.” While she loves living on the North Shore of Massachusetts, her real home is in the woods of western Maine.
At the very end of this email, I will include information as to how you can order a copy of her book if you would like to do so.
Not that we want to rush through the year at all, but the 8th graders are already getting excited about the spring trip to Washington DC. To that end, we will be having an informational session on Weds Oct 14 @ 6:00 pm regarding the trip please mark the date on your calendars.
The first meeting of our 2015-2016 School Advisory Council will take place on Tuesday October 6, 2015 from 2:30-3:30 here at Stony Brook. Our returning parent members include Patrick McGinn, Denise Seyffert, Marci Barnes and Gary Cutbill. Our faculty members are Julie Ewing and Al Duffet. I thank them all in advance for their willingness to participate in this important role. All of the SAC meetings are open to the public.
Enjoy this first weekend of autumn; hopefully, we will be able to enjoy the Super Blood Moon eclipse on Sunday.
Chris
Dr. Christopher Chew
Principal
Stony Brook School
Westford, MA 01886
(978) 692-2708
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